Hefeweizen Off flavor

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Mightykyle

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I brewed a hefeweizen 6 days ago OG of 1.052 that has seemed to hit final gravity at 1.009. Did a BIAB with single infusion mash at 152 degrees. I used 4 lbs of 2 row, 6 lbs of Wheat Malt, 0.5 oz of northern brewer hops, and WY3068. I gave the gravity sample taste today, and it is not tasting good! Kind of a lunch meat flavor. Very yeasty? I'm nots sure what is causing it. It doesn't have any banana or clove flavor. It also doesn't smell or taste like rotten eggs which i would think would be caused by sulfur. I've never tasted this flavor before. Should i wait it out and see what happens?
 
It could be just very yeasty, but I wouldn't describe yeasty as "lunch meat". Lunch meat is a difficult descriptor because there are 100 kinds of lunch meat

Can you give any other flavor descriptors that might help? Bloody, soy sauce, salty, leathery, red meat, burnt rubber, cooked shrimp, striking match? Maybe one of those?
 
Cooked shrimp maybe? Slightly savory.. Its very hard I've tasted nothing like it. It actually looks good. It just tastes wrong.
 
Hmm... they say autolysis of yeast lead to an umomi flavor? I am not sure how that would have happened in 6 days unless something went wrong with the pre packaged yeast or your culture (if you are doing one).

I would give it at least 7 more days before I gave up in it.
 
Cooked shrimp maybe? Slightly savory.. Its very hard I've tasted nothing like it.

Could you break it down into grainy (like chewing on a wheat kernal), combine with very low sulfur, and yeasty (like the smell of rising bread).

It sounds like you're describing a compound flavor and I find it useful to try to see if I can tease different flavors out
 
FYI, I didnt make a starter. Also I pitched at 70 ish degrees, It got pretty hot during the first day or 2, 75 is what it was reading. When the yeast cooled down it got to about 68 which was the room ambient temp.
 
I'm honestly about to never brew another hefe. This is my second all grain attempt. And my 5th attempt in general. I have yet to make a good one. its a bummer cause its one of my favorite styles.
 
I'm with dmtaylor, at only six days into fermentation I think your yeast have a lot of work to do still. After the primary fermentation the yeast cleans up diacetyl and other off flavors, give it another week in primary and then keg or bottle and give it even more time but it's worth it to enjoy your beer in it's prime. Beer isn't a process that thrives on being rushed.
 
My Weihenstephaner inspired Hefeweizen gets 2 weeks in primary, then bottled. It improves quickly in bottle and is at peak drinking after 3 weeks. So that’s 5 weeks from brew day to a really nice Hefe.

You just have to give yours more time.
 
My Weihenstephaner inspired Hefeweizen gets 2 weeks in primary, then bottled. It improves quickly in bottle and is at peak drinking after 3 weeks. So that’s 5 weeks from brew day to a really nice Hefe.

You just have to give yours more time.
What is your have your recipe and process, if I may ask??
 
What is your have your recipe and process, if I may ask??
I’ve brewed this 5 times now using various processes and recipe. My latest goes to competition next week and it’s so close now I don’t know what I would change in the future.

55% Weyermann Wheat
30% Weyermann Pilsner
10% Weyermann Munich II
5% Dextrose

12 IBU Hallertau Mittelfrueh
Wyeast 3068

The Weihenstephaner Hefe has OG 1.051, FG 1.010 and ABV 5.4%. I learned, using my BrewZilla 65 and Grainfather conical fermenter system, that if I made a slightly bigger Hefe, it more closely resembled the aroma, taste and feel of the original. Mine sits at OG 1.058, FG 1.014 and ABV 6.0%.

I use a 44C/63C/70C/77C Mash, and pull a decoction after 30 minutes at 63C and boil the decoction for 30 minutes. I do a 90 minute boil.

I started off fermenting cool which a lot of Hefe home brewers do, but found it didn’t make a very authentic version. Weihenstephaner ferments at 20C. I pitch at 20C and allow it to free rise to 22C after 48 hours. It’s usually done after 6 days. I let it rest there for another week then pressure transfer to bottling keg and pressure bottle. I bottle at 3.5 CO2.

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I brewed a hefeweizen 6 days ago OG of 1.052 that has seemed to hit final gravity at 1.009. Did a BIAB with single infusion mash at 152 degrees. I used 4 lbs of 2 row, 6 lbs of Wheat Malt, 0.5 oz of northern brewer hops, and WY3068. I gave the gravity sample taste today, and it is not tasting good! Kind of a lunch meat flavor. Very yeasty? I'm nots sure what is causing it. It doesn't have any banana or clove flavor. It also doesn't smell or taste like rotten eggs which i would think would be caused by sulfur. I've never tasted this flavor before. Should i wait it out and see what happens?

Less than a week into fermentation and any beer is going to taste pretty awful.

Yes, your fermentation temps got too hot.
How old was the pack of yeast?
Northern Brewer really isn't the right choice here. It has kind of a mint flavor that would clash with banana pretty hard. Use Hallertau or Tettnang.
 
Less than a week into fermentation and any beer is going to taste pretty awful.

Yes, your fermentation temps got too hot.
How old was the pack of yeast?
Northern Brewer really isn't the right choice here. It has kind of a mint flavor that would clash with banana pretty hard. Use Hallertau or Tettnang.
The pack of yeast seemed pretty new. I got the "More Beer" Hefeweizen kit, it came with Northern Brewer Hops.
 
This is certainly unusual.

Meaty flavors are usually attributed to yeast death (autolysis), which would be rather unlikely to occur to a significant extent during fermentation.

Specific to hefeweizen and other phenolic beers, there's a compound called guiacol, which adds a smoky flavor, and perhaps may be part of what you're tasting, although it's not usually present in significant amounts either.

The yeast itself certainly contains protein, but beer with the yeast present generally doesn't exhibit a meat-like flavor. Maybe others would disagree.

Another possibility is that you have a wild yeast contamination, which certainly can produce a variety of off-flavors, including cooked meat, goat, animal broth, etc. Unusual, for sure, but given that none of the former causes seem reasonable, contamination is looking more likely in my opinion. It could also explain why there was little of the characteristic flavors from the yeast you pitched.

Something we missed? Did you have any unusual additives? A couple pounds of ham, perhaps?
 
I’ve brewed this 5 times now using various processes and recipe. My latest goes to competition next week and it’s so close now I don’t know what I would change in the future.

55% Weyermann Wheat
30% Weyermann Pilsner
10% Weyermann Munich II
5% Dextrose

12 IBU Hallertau Mittelfrueh
Wyeast 3068

The Weihenstephaner Hefe has OG 1.051, FG 1.010 and ABV 5.4%. I learned, using my BrewZilla 65 and Grainfather conical fermenter system, that if I made a slightly bigger Hefe, it more closely resembled the aroma, taste and feel of the original. Mine sits at OG 1.058, FG 1.014 and ABV 6.0%.

I use a 44C/63C/70C/77C Mash, and pull a decoction after 30 minutes at 63C and boil the decoction for 30 minutes. I do a 90 minute boil.

I started off fermenting cool which a lot of Hefe home brewers do, but found it didn’t make a very authentic version. Weihenstephaner ferments at 20C. I pitch at 20C and allow it to free rise to 22C after 48 hours. It’s usually done after 6 days. I let it rest there for another week then pressure transfer to bottling keg and pressure bottle. I bottle at 3.5 CO2.
You look like you know what you're doing there. May I ask what color (EBC) you target? Also, have you ever tried Carahell in your recipe?
 
You look like you know what you're doing there. May I ask what color (EBC) you target? Also, have you ever tried Carahell in your recipe?
If there’s one thing I don’t target when making my beer it’s the colour. However my Hefe comes in at around 9 EBC which looks very close to the Weihenstephaner to me.

I’ve not tried the Carahell, and I doubt I ever would. I like the tried and tested wheat/pilsner/munich combination. The only other malt I may try is melanoidin. It would be a small amount, 5% or less.
 
Less than a week into fermentation and any beer is going to taste pretty awful.

Yes, your fermentation temps got too hot.
How old was the pack of yeast?
Northern Brewer really isn't the right choice here. It has kind of a mint flavor that would clash with banana pretty hard. Use Hallertau or Tettnang.
Fermentation too hot? **** i let mine run into the high 70s and mine (to me) is awesome. The downside is it takes about a week to be drinkable and hits its peak at around week 3.
 
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